In for a penny | POLL

Crowd braves storm, hours in line to buy Hoosier penny

BOB GWALTNEY / Courier & Press
Thousands line up to get their rolls of the initial issue of the 2009 Indiana Lincoln penny Thursday at Lincoln Amphitheater in Lincoln City, Ind. Limited to six rolls of the new coin, many arrived overnight and stood in the rain for what had been described as the "Woodstock of Coin."

Brendan Blanton of Hamilton, Ohio, shows off the six rolls of 2009 Indiana Lincoln pennies depicting (on the reverse side) Abe as a Hoosier teenager reading a book while taking a break from rail splitting. Blanton was one of the first in line to get the pennies along with 12 others in a van that made the trip from Ohio.

LINCOLN CITY, Ind. - U.S. Mint officials who predicted a 'Woodstock of Coin' here Thursday morning were right on the money.

Amid rain, traffic and music, more than 2,500 people showed up for the official launch of the "Indiana" Lincoln penny, depicting (on the "tails side") a teenage Abe sitting on a log reading while taking a break from rail splitting.

Nearly 1,000 attended a ceremony inside Lincoln State Park's covered amphitheater featuring speeches, Civil War re-enactors, patriotic numbers by choirs — including the Oak Hill Singers from Evansville's Oak Hill Middle School — a performance by actor Britt Reagan from this summer's "Lincoln" play (debuting June 12 at the amphitheater) and remarks by U.S. Mint Director Edmund C. Moy.

Another 1,500 coin fans stood outside — some for up to seven hours — to buy rolls of the newly minted penny after the ceremony ended at 11 a.m.

They ranged from children such as 8-year-old Hannah Houtz of Louisiana to a group of about 20 Amish residents from the Lexington, Ky., area.

One of the Amish, 24-year-old coin collector Simon Miller, said his group hopped a ride to Lincoln City in the early hours Thursday.

Others turned Thursday's event into a festive affair.

Donnie Mangel of Holland, Ind., came dressed in his great-grandfather's black tails and top hat from a century ago.

"This is a lifelong dream (an Indiana penny)," he said. "I've been collecting pennies since I was 10 years old."

First in line were Craig Sova and Daniel Sheffer, coin traders from Michigan who said they arrived at 3:30 a.m. Sheffer was wearing a black "Lincoln Mania" T-shirt.

Sova speculated he would be able to sell some of these first-issue pennies for up to $20.

However, Jim Elsmore, a coin dealer who flew here from Reno, Nev., figured the going rate might be $5 or $10, maybe more if the coins are graded and encapsulated.

"Eventually, they're going to be common as dirt, but right now it's supply and demand," Elsmore said.

Russ Flournoy, who turned the trip here from San Antonio into a "historical vacation" for him and his girlfriend, said the Indiana penny is "the nicest" of four commemorative pennies being issued in 2009 by the Mint to honor different stages of Lincoln's life.

"It's the only one that shows him," said Flournoy, noting a Kentucky penny released in February featured a log cabin and pennies coming later this year honoring Illinois and Washington, D.C., mostly depict buildings.

Moy, who said 700 million Indiana pennies "eventually will make it into circulation," estimated 18,000 to 20,000 of the coins from the Philadelphia mint were brought here in a Brinks truck.

Most were sold to the 1,500 people in line, but some Spencer County volunteers dressed as pioneer women also handed out free souvenir pennies to children in the audience.

"Keep them as a way to remember this day," Moy told the youngsters.

During his remarks, Moy noted Lincoln "took the best of Indiana with him" as he grew into manhood, qualities that gave him "fortitude to lead the nation during its darkest hour."

Lincoln lived in this part of Spencer County from ages 7 to 21.

This year's redesign of the penny is the first in 50 years, although the front continues to show Lincoln's likeness.

Lincoln was the first person ever featured on a circulating U.S. coin when the first Lincoln penny was issued in 1909, Moy said.

Also participating in Thursday morning's ceremony were Darrel Bigham, a retired University of Southern Indiana history professor who serves on the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and Connie Nass, the former Huntingburg, Ind., mayor who chairs Indiana's Lincoln bicentennial panel.